Lawmakers in Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG) have voted overwhelmingly to extend the term of the temporary government for another three years — to the rebuke of the United Nations, the United States, and Somali analysts.

What began in Tunisia is no longer containable, as revolution sweeps through the Middle East, challenging whatever government lies in its path — including that of Colonell Moammar Gadhafi, or the “mad dog,” as President Ronald Reagan once called him.

As protests enflame the Middle East, destabilizing pro-Western governments, America’s adversaries now find themselves in turmoil. Unlike protests in Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, and Albania, where Communists and socialist forces have comprised the governments there, advocates of liberty have taken to the streets in protest of the tyrannical regime of Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi.

As unrest in the Middle East bled over into Libya, anti-government protesters were reportedly close to controlling Benghazi, the nation’s second largest city, with the security forces under dictator Moammar Gadhafi fighting for control of Tripoli’s city center. Speaking for his father, Gadhafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, warned that the unrest in the country was on the verge of exploding into civil war.